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Shrimp Étouffée For One! A classic Louisiana stew made with juicy shrimp, vegetables, and a simple roux. Enjoy over rice for a delightful Cajun meal.
Enjoy your bowl of Shrimp Étouffée with a slice of warm, freshly baked French bread or buttery biscuits. Pair it with a simple green salad dressed with a light vinaigrette for a complete and satisfying meal.
I was lucky to grow up in New Orleans, a beautiful city full of history and tradition. Besides the music, the wonderful people, and Mardi Gras, I miss the food the most. One of my favorite dishes is Shrimp Étouffée, and I make sure to have it every time I visit. Today, I’m excited to share my traditional single serving recipe with you.
Why You’ll Love This Shrimp Étouffée Recipe
- Easy to Make: Shrimp étouffée is surprisingly simple to prepare. It’s made with easy-to-find ingredients and comes together quickly.
- Customizable: You can adjust the flavors to suit your personal taste since you’re making it at home.
- Recipe Doubles Well: This recipe makes one generous bowl of shrimp étouffée. If you want more, just double the ingredients to make a second bowl.
What Is Étouffée?
Étouffée (pronounced “ay-too-fay”) comes from the French word “étouffer,” which means “to smother.” In this recipe, it refers to cooking the shrimp and vegetables in the sauce, allowing the flavors to meld into a rich and savory dish.
Shrimp étouffée is a popular version, and if you love crawfish, you might want to try our crawfish étouffée too! Both dishes are staples of Louisiana cuisine.
Ingredients
If you have any ingredients leftover from this single serving shrimp étouffée recipe, check out our Leftover Ingredients Recipe Finder.
- Shrimp: I prefer using medium or large shrimp in this single serving shrimp étouffée recipe. I like to buy shrimp when it’s on sale. Another idea is to use frozen. When you cook for one, it’s a good idea to keep a bag of frozen shrimp in your freezer. It makes meal prep easy. If you’ve got extra shrimp, consider using some to make a Shrimp Quinoa Bowl, Shrimp Fettuccine, BBQ Shrimp, or Shrimp Tacos.
- Vegetables: Chopped green and yellow onions, green bell peppers, and garlic add quite a lot of flavor to this dish, definitely don’t leave them out.
- Seasonings: Use dried thyme, salt, and black pepper
- Butter and flour: These ingredients are necessary to make the roux. The roux is the foundation of this dish. It is made with equal parts of salted butter and all-purpose flour (plain flour). The roux is simply flour that is browned in fat (butter). It acts as a thickener and gives the étouffée its rich flavor.
- Tomatoes: I use ¼ cup of chopped tomatoes which is about 1 small to medium-sized tomato.
- Seafood Stock: You can use chicken broth instead.
- Hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce: Adds great flavor to the dish.
- Lemon juice: Use fresh or bottled lemon juice.
- Cooked rice: Traditionally, shrimp étouffée is served over white rice.
The Best Shrimp For Étouffée
If you live along a coast where you can get fresh shrimp, by all means, use that. If not, shrimp that has been frozen is fine to use. I often purchase individually frozen, head-off, peel-on shrimp for most shrimp recipes. These bags of shrimp are found in the freezer section of most supermarkets. When you are cooking for one person, purchasing frozen shrimp can be the most economical way to buy shrimp.
The vast majority of “fresh” shrimp sold in supermarkets were deep frozen at sea and delivered to retailers. Even though you may see a display of “fresh” shrimp at the fish counter in the store, those shrimp are the same bags of frozen shrimp you find in the freezer section that have simply been allowed to thaw out in the store before going on display. It’s hard to know how long they have been defrosted.
Shrimp are highly perishable. If purchasing fresh shrimp, smell the shrimp first. You don’t want any shrimp that smells like ammonia, this is a sign of spoilage. You also want to avoid shrimp that are limp, slimy, or falling apart, these are signs of decay.
How To Make Shrimp Étouffée For One
These step-by-step photos and instructions are here to help you visualize how to make this recipe. See the recipe box below for ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions.
- Make the roux. Melt butter in a 10-inch skillet.
- Add the flour and stir continuously to make a roux. Stir the roux over medium heat until it’s the color of peanut butter, about 2-3 minutes.
Pro Tip: A roux (pronounced “roo”) is the foundation for many cajun and creole recipes. It’s very simple but brings an incredible flavor to so many dishes. Stir the flour and butter constantly – never walk away from a roux because the flour will burn. The secret to a perfect roux is to take your time and stir continuously.
- Cook the vegetables. Add the onions and bell peppers to the roux, and cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes.
- Add the garlic, dried thyme, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring frequently for 1 minute.
- Make the étouffée sauce. Stir in the seafood stock, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Pro Tip: You will notice that as the mixture simmers, the étouffée sauce will reduce and thicken.
- Add the shrimp and lemon juice and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the shrimp is fully cooked.
Pro Tip: I use 3 ounces of peeled and deveined shrimp. Although I prefer using medium-sized shrimp, you can use small, medium, or large shrimp.
- If using large shrimp, 3 ounces is about 5 to 7 shrimp.
- Medium shrimp: 3 ounces is about 8 to 11 shrimp.
- Small shrimp: 3 ounces is about 12 to 15 shrimp.
- Stir in the green onions. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary.
- Add rice to a bowl.
- Pour the shrimp and the étouffée sauce over the rice and enjoy hot.
Expert Tips
- Make sure you spend the time to make a roux. The roux helps to thicken the étouffée and is necessary for the dish. It takes time for a roux to develop, be patient and stir the roux constantly.
- Étouffée is often served with rice. Use white rice, brown rice, or try it with cooked quinoa or orzo pasta instead. Feel free to leave the rice out and enjoy a bowl just as it is.
- Adjust the seasonings and spice level to suit your taste. I love a spicy etouffee but if you’re sensitive to spicy foods, use less hot sauce or leave it out altogether.
Frequently Asked Questions
Shrimp Creole and Shrimp Etouffee are similar dishes but are not the same. An etouffee has a consistency that is more like gravy and is thicker than shrimp creole sauce. Shrimp creole has a tomato base while shrimp etouffee has a roux for its base.
Crawfish etouffee is made the same way as shrimp etouffee. We recommend using 3 ounces of crawfish tails which can be found in the freezer section of most grocery stores. Be sure to look for packages labeled Louisiana crawfish and use our easy crawfish etouffee recipe.
Yes. If you’d like to make a second bowl or to have a little leftover for another meal, just double the ingredient amounts.
More Single Serving Louisiana Recipes
Ways To Use Leftover Ingredients
If you have any ingredients leftover from this recipe, check out our Leftover Ingredients Recipe Finder or you might like to consider using them in any of these single serving and small batch recipes:
For more information on the cooking and baking dishes I use in our “recipes for one”, please visit our FAQ page.
For examples of the dishes used at One Dish Kitchen, please visit our Store page.
If you’ve tried this easy shrimp etouffee recipe or any recipe on One Dish Kitchen please let me know how you liked it by rating the recipe and telling me about it in the comment section below.
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Shrimp Étouffée For One
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ cup chopped onions
- ¼ cup chopped green bell peppers
- 1 clove garlic -minced
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
- 1 ¼ cups seafood stock , or chicken broth
- ¼ cup chopped tomatoes (about 1 medium Roma or Plum tomato)
- ¼ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon hot sauce (add more if you like a spicier etouffee)
- 3 ounces shrimp -peeled and deveined (about 8 medium shrimp)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons chopped green onions
- 1 cup cooked rice (optional for serving)
Instructions
- Melt butter in a 10-inch skillet. Add the flour and stir continuously to make a roux. Stir the roux over medium heat until it's the color of peanut butter, about 2-3 minutes.Pro Tip: A roux (pronounced "roo") is the foundation for many cajun and creole recipes. It's very simple but brings an incredible flavor to so many dishes. Stir the flour and butter constantly – never walk away from a roux because the flour will burn. The secret to a perfect roux is to take your time and stir continuously.
- Add the onions and bell peppers to the roux, and cook, stirring frequently until the vegetables begin to soften, about 2 minutes.
- Add the garlic, dried thyme, salt, and pepper and cook, stirring frequently for 1 minute.
- Stir in the seafood stock, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.Pro Tip: You will notice that as the mixture simmers, the étouffée sauce will reduce and thicken.
- Add the shrimp and lemon juice and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally until the shrimp is fully cooked.
- Stir in the green onions. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary.
- If serving with rice, add the rice to a bowl. Pour the shrimp and the étouffée sauce over the rice and enjoy hot.
Notes
- If using large shrimp, 3 ounces is about 5 to 7 shrimp.
- Medium shrimp: 3 ounces is about 8 to 11 shrimp.
- Small shrimp: 3 ounces is about 12 to 15 shrimp.
- Make sure you spend the time to make a roux. The roux helps to thicken the étouffée and is necessary for the dish. It takes time for a roux to develop, be patient and stir the roux constantly.
- Étouffée is often served with rice. Use white rice, brown rice, or try it with cooked quinoa or orzo pasta instead. Feel free to leave the rice out and enjoy a bowl just as it is.
- Adjust the seasonings and spice level to suit your taste. I love a spicy etouffee but if you’re sensitive to spicy foods, use less hot sauce or leave it out altogether.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I made this dish for dinner last night. I added cayenne and a little more hot sauce for a bit more heat. I also added a little andouille and the dish was fantastic. A very good recipe!
One of the best things I’ve cooked in awhile!
I just made your Shrimp Etouffee for dinner tonight. It is delicious and easy
to make. Thank you for sharing your recipes with all us single people.
I’m so happy you enjoyed the etouffee, Becky. Thank you.
Good recipe.
Thank you.